Category Archives: Obesity

It’s official. One in every 4 women is now obese. This is the first time that such high number of women have been considered obese. The question isn’t about how the women look. The question is about why does it matter what women look like as long as they are happy? If the obesity isn’t affecting the health of the woman, then it shouldn’t matter how much she weighs. Obese to one person might be 20 pounds overweight while obese to a doctor might be 50 pounds overweight. The obesity factor comes into play when the person her a significant amount of weight added to the body and can’t lose that weight.

Women are seeing about 40% overweight while men are seeing about 35% overweight. It seems like this is more of an issue than the overall health. Just because someone has a few extra pounds doesn’t mean that the person can’t walk or doesn’t eat the proper foods. It doesn’t mean that the person has health conditions that would not allow them to have a functional life. It simply means that the person isn’t the stereotypical size that a woman should be according to those who see the desired female form in movies and on television. Weight is just a number. The health of the woman and her self-esteem should be all that matters.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has completed one of the largest, broadest surveys of Americans. The CDC survey focused on the health of Americans coupled with their eating _habits. Sadly, the results of this aspect of the survey were not positive.

According to the CDC, a larger number of Americans (no pun intended) are now overweight and even obese than in prior surveys of the U.S. population. The CDC has been undertaking this study annually since 1957 and the results regarding weight and diet related issues seem to be on a progressively worse trajectory. (The research survey was undertaken in 2015, with the results being released now.)

The 2015 survey reveals that an astonishing 30.4 percent of Americans of the age of 20 or older are self reporting that they are obese. The reality is that there are probably more obese Americans than this percentage reveals, considering some people do fudge about their weight. In 2014, this percentage was 29.9 percent.

The 30.4 percent figure is particularly astonishing when contrasted with the number of obese individuals in 1997. In 1997, the percentage was 19.4 percent. That represents a roughly 11 point increase in obesity rates over the roughly 18 year time period. Overall, there has been an increase almost every year since 1997.

There were some bright spots in the survey in 2015. Fewer Americans seem to be smoking. In addition, a larger number of Americans do seem to have better access to health care and medical services.